The annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca

The annual pilgrimage, one of Islam's five pillars, draws 3 million each year, making it the largest yearly gathering of people in the world. Believers from all over the world travel to Mecca in Saudi Arabia

2 November: Afghans prepare to leave for the hajj, in Herat, Afghanistan. It is expected that some 30,000 Afghan pilgrims will travel to Saudi Arabia this year for Umrah with more than 100 buildings being reserved for Afghan pilgrims this year

2 November: Saudi Arabian men ride on the newly-opened holy sites metro light rail in Mecca. The Chinese-built monorail project, will link Mecca with the holy sites of Mina, Arafat and Muzdalifah, and will operate for the first time during the hajj this month

7 November: Saudi workers clean returned empty carboys of "zamzam" water at the Zamazemah United office in Mecca. According to Islamic belief, zamzam is a miraculously-generated source of water from God, which began thousands of years ago when Abraham's infant son Ishmael was thirsty and crying for water when he discovered a well by kicking the ground

8 November: A Saudi worker sews Islamic calligraphy in gold thread on a drape to cover the Kaaba at the kiswa factory in the holy city of Mecca. The Kaaba cover is called the kiswa and is changed every year at the culmination of the hajj